DFG Roundtable: Design research in Germany and in international comparison, Mar 21-22 02013

This was an intense 2-day workshop at the Design Research Lab of the University of the Arts Berlin. The event was invitation-only and was attended by an international group of accomplished senior academics contributing to the development of the PhD in design. Many of them regular contributors to the PhD-Design-list.

Conversations took place in four groups around four distinct themes, each beginning by collecting, then compiling, comparing & contrasting and finally communicating findings:

1. The relationship between text and object
2. The relationship of theory and practice
3. The distinctive features of design research
4. Its relationship to other research disciplines

The event was very well organised and groups led by experienced and passionate facilitators.

Personally I think it is about time that a German institution is joining the international conversations about what design research in an academic context constitutes, the different types of knowledge that are being created, the relation between theory and practice, methods and methodologies. The good thing about this late start is that all the institutions in Germany that offer practice-led PhDs in art and design do not have to re-invent the wheel, regarding the above, but can benefit greatly from the experiences gained in the UK, Scandinavia and other places, over the last 20 years.